This is a beautiful and unique Russian papier mache trinket/jewellery Box depicting Cute Hedgehog, hand painted and signed by the Russian Artist Orlova. The box is signed with Kholui (in russian letters). It also has Hedgehog written on it.

The box measures 12.7 cm (5 inches) long, 9.5 cm wide (3 3/4 inches), 1.6 cm deep. A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the order Erinaceomorpha. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand (by introduction). There are no hedgehogs native to Australia, and no living species native to the Americas (although fossils of at least four extinct species were discovered in South America). Hedgehogs share distant ancestry with shrews (order Soricidae), with gymnures possibly being the intermediate link, and have changed little over the last 15 million years. Like many of the first mammals they have adapted to a nocturnal, insectivorous way of life.

The name'hedgehog' came into use around the year 1450, derived from the Middle English'heyghoge', from'heyg','hegge' = hedge, because it frequents hedgerows, and'hoge','hogge' = hog, from its piglike snout. Other names include'urchin','hedgepig' and'furze-pig'. A must have for Trinket collector.

It will make a great gift too. The boxes most widely sought after come from one of four small Russian villages - Palekh, Fedoskino, Kholui, and Mstera. Special schools have been established at these places where artists train for four years before they become members of each village's art community. Each village also has its unique style. The boxes most widely sought after come from one of four small Russian villages - Palekh, Fedoskino, Kholui and Mstera.

Kholui is among the most ancient villages in the Vladimir-Suzdal area. Legend has it that arts and crafts were practiced in these parts from as early as the time of the Tatar-Mongol invasion. In the 1230-40s the highly developed urban culture of Northeastern Russia was almost wiped out by the Tatar-Mongol hordes. The local people fled to remote marshlands that were inaccessible to the Tatar cavalry.

Kholui may well have been such a place, its name meaning "marshlands" in Finno-Ugrian languages. Thefirst recorded mention of the settlement in Kholui goes back to the mid-16th century. It is the deed issued by the grand prince Ivan Vasilievich to the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery near Moscow relieving the Starodubsky salt works of obligations to the state. This indicates that at the time Kholui was owned by the monastery, which supplied Moscow with that highly prized commodity, salt.

Document of the 17th century already mention Kholui icon-painters. These documents are dated 1613, the year when the Kholui sloboda (settlement exempt from state obligations) was given as an allodium to Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky who liberated Moscow besieged by the Poles in 1612. The level of literacy in the icon-painting centers of Kholui, Palekh and Mstera was markedly superior to that among the peasants of surrounding villages.

In 1861 the village community opened the Sofinskaya School in Kholui with the assistance of Duchess Sofia Bobrinskaya. Almost the whole male population of Kholui was engaged in iconmaking. In the 1870s, many icon-painting shops sprang up, some of them were quite large, such as the two-storied workshop of Blinnichev which had craftsmen from Kholui and Palekh: among them were the Kryukovs-father Alexander and his sons Pavel and Ivan; the Denisovs-father Ivan and sons Ivan and Alexander; V. Professor Kondakov, who visited the old icon-making centers of Palekh, Mstera and Kholui in 1900, pointed out that the craft of icon painting was sustained in those areas thanks to old legends. Student of icon-painting centers in the Vladimir gubernia in the 19th century, including Palekh, Mstera and Kholui pointed out that Kholui as an icon-paining center Predated all others.

The first experiments in papier-mâché miniature painting were made in Kholui as early as in 1928. By that time the artists of Palekh, looking for ways to apply their icon-painting skills, Started decorating papier-mâché boxes following the technology they borrowed from the Fedoskino artists. But while the latter used oil, the Palekh artists used tempera technique. Kholui artists decorated several semi-processed plates and boxes made in Palekh.

Kholui lacquer workshops were founded in 1993 on the basis of an artistic Guild, which existed since 1934. Kholui miniature painting is executed with egg yolk tempera over papier-mâché articles. They represent folklore and historic subjects, everyday life motive with stylized figures, which are depicted against the stylized landscape background. Famous artists are involved into the workshops activities; each of them is of person of vivid talent and inimitable individuality.

Their creative won great fame - their artworks were rewarded with high awards, including the Great Silver Medal of the International Exhibition in Bruxelles. The artists were rewarded with honorary titles of Peoples Artist and Honored Artist of the Russian Federation; they also were honored with the Russian Federation State Prize named after Ilya Repin. Please leave feedback once you have received the item so that I know it has arrived safely. I will leave feedback in return. We speak French, English, German and Russian.